BATON ROUGE — A bill introduced in the State Senate would give domestic violence and human trafficking victims who act in self-defense more legal rights if signed into law.

Sen. Beth Mizell's SB 152 would allow a person's history of being a victim of violence and trafficking to be considered in court. Under the proposed bill, a defendant's criminal conduct is justified if the crime is not violent, a sex offense or cruelty to juveniles. 

A history of domestic violence and human trafficking could be considered if the crime was necessary to prevent death, bodily harm or sexual assault under the proposal.

Mizell's bill also says that there must be evidence of a defendant's victimization by the alleged perpetrator of assault or trafficking.

An advocate for the bill described a scenario in another state of a woman who was being abused by her then-husband to explain the importance of this bill on Tuesday. Alexandra Bailey said that the woman's brother killed the alleged abuser and added that murder charges were also brought against the woman.

"We are interested in going after perpetrators. We are not interested in punishing victims, and we understand the difference. We are going to make sure that it's coded into law," Bailey said.

If signed, Mizell's law would take effect Aug. 1.